38 Comments

• pilib04 | Jan 08, 2012, 04:30 PM EST

  The good Cardinal is right, we don't want tens of thousands of gays demonstrating against the homophobic and hateful behavior of the Catholic Church. Everyone Gay and Straight should be demonstrating against our Catholic Hierarchy and their failure to confront the Child-Rapists who are Priests and Bishops. Now that is something to march about and to protest (in front of Bishop residences).

• Collette2 | Jan 06, 2012, 06:06 PM EST

  I wonder what his Mormon friends who play both sides of the fence to be politically correct, have to say about this recent outburst.

• eiriamach | Jan 06, 2012, 09:21 AM EST

  Correction to my 7:52 posting: According to this morning's NY Times report, Timothy Dolan is now Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the NY Archdiocese. No surprise again: I predicted that he would soon qualify for his Cardinal's scarlet when he was waging war against New York State's marriage equality legislation. As retiring Senator Barney Frank commented recently, one of the few pleasures of life that improve as one ages is the pleasure of saying "I told you so." But not without adding a wake-up call to it.

• eiriamach | Jan 06, 2012, 07:52 AM EST

  According to Pew Forum research, October 2010, "among white Catholics 49% now favor same-sex marriage while 41% are opposed." And 66% of white Catholics believe that homosexuality should be accepted. Archbishop Dolan and Cardinal Francis George have done much, I'm sure, to increase the number of Catholics who would like their church to give equal treatment to gays. The cardinals and bishops are not listening to the PIPs-- strange--because listening and responding to Catholics in the pews is the primary responsibility of bishops.

• eiriamach | Jan 06, 2012, 07:33 AM EST

  San Francisco! oh yeah, the more-Catholic-than-the- Pope Bill Donohue tried to sue San Francisco's board of supervisors for alleged anti-Catholic bias. The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal when the Circuit Court dismissed his case. According to the Huffington Post 7/3/11 story, the San Fran supervisors' resolution called it "an insult to all San Franciscans when a foreign country, like the Vatican, meddles with and attempts to negatively influence this great city's existing and established customs and traditions." Does this comment sound familiar? Isn't it similar to the charge that Enda Kenny made in the wake of the Cloyne Report? The Huff Post continues, "The [supervisors'] resolution also strongly denounced Cardinal William Levada's statement that allowing gay couples to adopt would mean doing violence to these children.'" Whose language was inflammatory, the supervisors" or the Cardinal's? But a cardinal's using inflammatory language should come as no surprise: Cardinal George of Chicago is carrying on an established Catholic tradition of demonizing gays. "Could it be the sin thing?" Yes, it could be the sins of the Church that San Fran gays are reacting to!

• jnewnam | Jan 06, 2012, 02:55 AM EST

  There would appear to be quite an anti Catholic bias by gays especially in San Francisco. Church invasions, disruptions of Mass - google it. Could it be about the sin thing? I think there are many Catholics that oppose same sex marriage but I think they also support equal civil rights. No one can demand a priest commit an act against conscience. But you are perfectly in the right to ask for a civil government union/marriage. Quite frankly, I think gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia will create a schism in the church and I think it is happening right now.

• seanomelbourne | Jan 05, 2012, 06:15 PM EST

  Christ(I presume you mean Jesus) never founded any church he was born a Jew and died a Jew.

• eiriamach | Jan 05, 2012, 10:29 AM EST

  Christ founded his church not as an instrument of tyranny but as an organization for community-building. The Cardinals and bishops are increasingly out of sync with Catholics in the pews, who have no quarrel with same-sex unions, equal rights for LGBTs, or sharing church pews with LGBTs. They already share their workplaces, civic groups, and social lives with a great diversity of other Americans. American political tradition requires equal treatment, equal rights, for everyone we consider equal-- and who is not equal? Up against this thinking, the cardinals and bishops look like bigots, and this appearance is bound to influence Catholics to dis-associate themselves from anti-gay Church politics and ultimately from a Church focused on sexual politics rather than on building local and global communities of faithful. The people in the pews are responsible for holding church officials to account for their political power plays. I'd like to know: if they cannot exert that influence, why do they stay in the pews?

• hollabackgurl | Jan 04, 2012, 08:07 PM EST

  I think in fairness Rebelforce that you're too bright to buy your own b.s. Until gays start wearing pink sheets and lynching straight people your insupportable contention won't wash. The reality is that its straight men who fill the ranks of the KKK and its straight men who gaybash. Besides, you didn't read the article: the gay groups are starting the parade two hours after the last mass as a mark of respect that was not returned to them.

• seanomelbourne | Jan 04, 2012, 05:43 PM EST

  Tennessee lawmakers are considering changes to their anti-bullying legislation to allow school children to protest their anti-gay sentiments on religious grounds.Thus cementing anti gay bullying as legitimate.I wonder would his eminence agree with this.This could only happen in the backward backwoodsmens collective narrow mindness of a an extreme evangelical state.

• Rebelforce | Jan 04, 2012, 12:25 PM EST

  I think in fairness to Cardinal George, he was only expressing the concern that some gay people have shown themselves to be as virulently anti-Catholic as a toothless, hillbilly, KKKer from the backwoods of Georgia. He might have a point. You don't fight ignorance and bigotry by being ignorant and bigoted yourself.

• jamieLM | Jan 04, 2012, 09:05 AM EST

  The post on Jan. 3 10:48 AM is not mine.

• Caoimhin1937 | Jan 04, 2012, 07:23 AM EST

  It should be nobody's business how couples live together and have any kind of sexual relationship that they want. For my part, marriage should be done away with. The only people who make money on marriage breakups are corrupt lawyers, who make millions of dollars on divorces, then use the money to send their children to high priced catholic schools controlled by the likes of the Cardinal.

• warlocks | Jan 04, 2012, 01:33 AM EST

  WE live in a different world today. where Gay Men &Gay Women want to marry i say as free Thinking people why not let them . maybe their marriage will last longer then the so call Natural Man & Women Marriages. as Far as leting them Marry in the Catholic Church, that would be up to the Vatican it really doesn't matter to me. as the Bible states God Created all living Beings on Earth. God created the Gay human Beings also. the DNA IS The same. But i think someware in the Development stage before birth something Happened in the Gentics Stage .People forget normal Males have Both the x y Factor --Male & Female Genes where as the Femal only the x Factor. is God Perfect ??? I Doubt it! God Makes mistakes in nature. Lets not be so narrow minded.as Christians we should Practice what Jesus Said and Did. ----He who has not sinned let them cast the first stone .

• stephen1553 | Jan 04, 2012, 12:04 AM EST

  Thank you Seamus Martin - well spoken. Sure I'd like to see civil marriage for gays now, but maybe we need an intermediate step while our society gets over the anxieties such a change creates.

• stephen1553 | Jan 04, 2012, 12:01 AM EST

  SRI the keyboard does some strange things, Picking up from the blog below this one (most likely) The understanding of the churces Endless HIDDEN molestation of children, to be polite, did not sit well. So its like the church is fighting its battle of the bulge, and a lot of its animus towards gays may be both to deflect attention from its own horrible misdeeds as well as the top down - is tyranny to strong a word? from the Pope.............Who wants to even undo Vatican II re call to convert the Jews going back into the good Friday Litergy. ( a call that in the middle ages brought forth murderous riots against the Jews, and ULtimatly morphed into Hitler and the Holocaust. which btw included aall the gays the SS could find, 200,000 soviet prisoners etc. hundreds of thousands of Croats etc. Free speech is a wonderful thing. The good catholic people, more and more are fed up with the church, its becoming more of a club for holiday get togethers. And another simple example - the church is dead set against artificial birth control. Yet polls say that 90 % of catholics use it. My best friend btw - he's lawyer, parents very catholic yet as one example his 1 of only two children. As are most of my other catholic friends....................The bottom line is that the Vatican is so encumbered with its own propaganda, that it cant even imagine something different could exist................ Well I guess maybe God is watching all this enfold, and encouraging it. We shall see and I hope the USA will follow all the other countries in giving our gay friends and neigbors equal marriage rights UNDER CIVIL LAW............ Yes the church is fully within its rights to discriminate re marriage via the church. But has no right to impose its beliefs on others under our civil law.

• stephen1553 | Jan 03, 2012, 11:48 PM EST

  I'm not alone in this analysis. The catholic church is headed to its well deserved rest in a cemetary unless it changes. I read recently (maybe IrishCentral) that it has collapsed from 90% church attendance in Ireland to about 25%. And I've also seen that in general only about 13-15% of w. European catholics go to church on any regular basis. Even in Poland, home of Good polish pope, its dowwn to 40%. and both gay and trangenders people (about 3-4 total) are now in the Parliment...................Why _ IMHO the whole European world and much of south america is tired of the church meddling in political affairs (which many years ago meant instant excommuncation). Add to that the endless HIDDEN

• irishmary24 | Jan 03, 2012, 06:29 PM EST

  Hatred for a whole group of people different from you? Who is acting more like the clan? The outfits are even similar!

• hollabackgurl | Jan 03, 2012, 05:22 PM EST

  Help the poor, comfort the sick, sow love where there is only hatred - or skip that and bash gays.

• humilityarrow | Jan 03, 2012, 05:18 PM EST

  I don't see gays terrorizing neighborhoods, burning crosses, or lynching straights. I do see them excercising greater self control than their critics do however. No, not like the KKK but more like well behaved Christians mainly.

• seanomelbourne | Jan 03, 2012, 04:57 PM EST

  Does the Cardinal include gay priests or nuns? He needs to retire after that ignorant statement.

• pmulvihill | Jan 03, 2012, 04:02 PM EST

  What does the cardinal say about his pedophile priests?

• GuinnessGrrl | Jan 03, 2012, 03:53 PM EST

  @mikehoulihan, could you please give me the EXACT quote where Jesus speaks out against homosexuality? I have looked & looked in the Bible & I haven't been able to find one word that Jesus said against homosexuality!

• JBRAFTREE | Jan 03, 2012, 03:44 PM EST

  The Cardinal simply meant Parades are disruptive enough, but if churchgoers aren't able to get into Mass because of the parade route, that's just wrong. When KKK had their parade, streets were blocked forcing others not to go about their normal business.

• ciaradexy | Jan 03, 2012, 12:02 PM EST

  Go away Catholic church and leave people alone to make their own decisions, to lead their own lives and to be happy in their owns skin.

• SeamusMartin | Jan 03, 2012, 11:53 AM EST

  I don't appreciate LGBT parading their sexuality in public. On marriage, I'm not sure, a Civil Union seems more apropos. As for the Cardinal Georgie Porgy, once again, It and Its minions, are way off base. This is definitely a way to divert the huge pedophilia issues and payoffs to victims. Incidentally, the payoff monies are coming for parishes that the holy catholic church is shutting down - this is happening all over the US. They (the holy catholic church) sites the reason being that there aren't enough priest to herd the flock. And why is that? Because the pedophiles are being culled out, most twenty-first century men don't buy into celebacy, the church won't ordain women AND many Catholics don't go to mass as in the past because they think the RCC is way, way behind what it takes for the actual worship of Christ. The Church needs a come-to-Jesus meeting within itself!

• canadianirish | Jan 03, 2012, 11:53 AM EST

  What a moronic old coot.

• Murph46 | Jan 03, 2012, 11:41 AM EST

  How in any way does a statement like that aid good god fearing parishiners who go about their daily business. Being brought up Catholic we were told that priests were to be respected as the Lord would be on earth.Statements like this drive more people from the church.I rather believe cokelly is right -obscuring the real story-otherwise how can you possibly respect the flamboyant statement.

• joan1954 | Jan 03, 2012, 11:09 AM EST

  In one way I can understand this, but to use the analogy with the KKK? I think that part of the problem is that the gay community activists try to ram down the throats of people who haven't really thought about it in great detail the idea of same sex marriage. I don't give a hoot what is done behind closed doors but don't throw it at me.

• jamieLM | Jan 03, 2012, 11:00 AM EST

  How ironic. No tolerance for gays, but plenty for child sex abusing priests within the RC hierarchy. The Jesus I believe in would not have promoted or sanctioned discrimination and bigotry against anyone. I find George's words very "unChristian."

• mikehoulihan | Jan 03, 2012, 10:45 AM EST

  The Cardinal is absolutely correct in his analogy. The KKK was an anti-Catholic organization and often held parades to disrupt and destroy the reputation of the Church. The LGBT crowd seems to think that the Church should suddenly drop over two thousand years of moral teaching because they want to get married. They have an agenda but picking a fight with Cardinal George isn't a good idea. I am sick and tired of hearing about the "discrimination" of the LGBT crowd.The world is not interested in your sex life, so why must we be taunted and bullied into legislating your lifestyle? You have formed a political party based on sex acts. Grow up! You have chosen an "in your face" attack on our religion and I'd advise them to rethink this strategy. The Catholic Church won't be changing any time soon, so get used to it. Nobody is forcing anyone to be a Catholic, so if you don't agree with the morality of the church, don't join up. The Catholic Church is currently under siege from the bullying and terrorism of the pro-abortion and LGBT lobbies. Many martyrs died to defend this faith and we stand ready, willing, and able to fight the onslaught of anti-Catholicism that is currently on the rise and fueled by bullies like Cahir O'Doherty, Irish Central, and all the other enemies of the Catholic Church.

• faberm1 | Jan 03, 2012, 10:44 AM EST

  As "cokelly" said, this is simply a diversion. Good try Cardinal. Go get the log out of your own eye.

• SingleDonald | Jan 03, 2012, 10:34 AM EST

  This is ridiculous! I, who oppose gay marriage, condemn the Cardinal's weird comparison. The organizers of the Gay March were CONSIDERATE of the Church & potential traffic problems, so they deferred the start of their march. This is so much better than what happened in New York, a few years ago. A lesbian couple openly made out in a front pew, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, during a mass! I think this occurred on Gay Rights Day. Concerning "the Devil entering a mother's womb", remember what some of us were taught, as kids? "The devil is trying to tempt you, so keep your thoughts pure, concerning your feelings towards the opposite sex". Happily, the Church has downplayed its rigid stance, but they still officially teach that anything sexual outside of marriage, is "sinful". Well, happily most of us kids have since grown up, and scoff at those ridiculous control freak teachings. I wish the Church would similarly grow up, and officially abandon those puritanical doctrines AND the comparison of gays to the Ku Klux Clan!

• Nelsonbarry | Jan 03, 2012, 10:25 AM EST

  Bless me father, you're an Idiot.

• jerrydonovan | Jan 03, 2012, 10:03 AM EST

  It was CARDINAL George who said this? Ah well this is just the ramblings of one individual.Now if it was his boss{the Pope}who said it I would possibly be a little concerned.So many cardinals,so many opinions!

• ripley838 | Jan 03, 2012, 09:50 AM EST

  Would the Cardinal feel better if the parade marchers all wear pink triangles?

• colkelley | Jan 03, 2012, 09:47 AM EST

  Seems like a simple case of the Catholic Church trying to divert attention from the growing documentation of the MANY pedophile priests (both heterosexual and homosexual) who, on the whole, they supported, protected and coddled for decades. This is rather hypocritical, since they must be asserting that the "Devil" did not enter those priests until they were nicely in-place in positions of trust and responsibility where their victims were very unlikely to be believed ("How dare you say that about Father XXX! He's a man of God!"). Obviously, homosexuality has a biological origin that has only been partially documented since no one would make a "choice" to live a life in such conflict with much of society.

• ChrisVogel | Jan 02, 2012, 08:19 PM EST

  I don't know why George's pronouncements should seem odd; religion is all, not to put too fine a point on it, a ridiculous fabrication, evidence to the fact that people are capable of believing anything at all. The Roman church, in particular, has lately been prevented by modern secular governments from employing its traditional responses to difference (torture and mass murder), reduced to vanity, malice, and wilful ignorance, along with the usual midieval nonsense. That George's doctrine should seem also idiotic is just par for the course. They have no interest in reality, because it would destroy them.